


Evocation: Lilies

by kupopopoyo



Series: Young Justice: Summonings [3]
Category: Young Justice (Cartoon), Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Grief/Mourning, M/M, One-Sided Attraction, Time Skips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-15
Updated: 2015-05-15
Packaged: 2018-03-30 15:51:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3942586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kupopopoyo/pseuds/kupopopoyo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wally hits a sore spot with Dick when the speedster visits his friend in the hospital.<br/>Mostly takes place between Seasons 1 and 2.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Evocation: Lilies

**Author's Note:**

> Young Justice, Teen Titans, The Batman, and others works whose characters and stories are used and referenced in this fic are not my property. The convoluted plot is though. :3

_**West Mercy Hospital Gotham City** _

_**February 12, 2013** _

_**17:23 EDT** _

Dick watched the the bouquet of white and yellow lilies in silence only for Wally’s face to poke up above the delicate blooms.  “Smooth move getting caught like that Dick.”

Dick flapped a hand dismissively at Wally and winced at the answering twinge from his aching shoulder.  His broken leg was worse off, but thankfully the only part of his body that actually needed a cast.  “You should see the other guy.  Zee blew her lid.”

“I did.  She should write down that spell.  Never seen a guy hamstrung by his own long-johns before.”

That made Dick smile ruefully.  “You can stop reminding me that I got schooled by a guy in big orange jammies.” He watched as Wally set out a simple glass vase to place the bouquet in.

“But it’s Cluemaster!” Wally protested over his shoulder. “He has serious street cred with the Bat!”

“You mean the one time Bruce took him out for his souped-up trivia game?”

“Ah, but,” Wally put on his best game show host impression, “Can you answer the million dollar question?  Who is the Bat - ”

“Do you _want_ **him** to hang you upside down in orange jammies too?”

Wally sighed breezily.  “You need to have a sense of humor Dick,” Wally complained. “Lighten up already.  You’re such a bore these days.”

Dick threw himself back on the pillow with a sigh.  “Someone has to be the responsible one.”  He didn’t need to look up in the silence to know that Wally was giving him a pointed look so he made a shooing gesture to speedster instead.  “Ok, maybe when I’m not recovering from a trio of dwarves each taking a mallet to my head.”

Wally’s snort of laughter made him raise his head though.  “Whack-a-Robin,” the other chuckled.  “We could make special edition versions - the beginner’s set with hand painted scaly green short shorts.”

Dick threw a pillow at Wally who effortlessly caught it and slipped it back in place on Dick’s right side.  “Now now.  You heard the doctor - no strenuous activity for a few days - OOF!”

Wally glared at Dick who innocently fluffed his pillow and set it back.  The injured boy raised a brow in response.  “What?  You said no strenuous activity - I thought putting up with mouthy friends count.”

Wally about-faced towards Dick - both hands outstretched and intent on mischief.  “I’ll show you strenuous -”

“Am I interrupting?” Zatanna was in the doorway with one brow elegantly arched in question as a smile played on her lips.

“No -” “Yes!”

Dick quirked a smile at Wally who pouted and then, before Dick could react, zipped close to ruffle his bedhead and then was out the door.

“That was...sweet,” Zatanna smiled as walked over to the flowers and gently caressed a bright yellow lily.

“...Seriously?  Flowers?”

Zatanna placed her arms akimbo and leaned in towards Dick.  “You aren’t exactly easy to shop for mister.”

Dick didn’t respond so Zatanna leaned in to look at them.

“Why do you suppose he chose lilies?”

Zatanna stilled and turned to him with her head tilted.  “Hmm?”

“Out of all the flowers he could’ve picked, why lilies?”  Dick was lying in bed, eyes on the ceiling above.

“Why not lillies?”  Zee answered slowly as if puzzled.

“Why not - ? Oh please Zee.  This is from the guy who thought it was a bright idea to give Artemis leftover flowers from one of Poison Ivy’s gardens for their anniversary.”

Zatanna considered this for a moment.  “You have to admit it was dashing in a certain sense - Wally jumping in and getting bitten in Artemis’s place.”

“So was the way he gallantly fainted from the toxin and pinned Artemis down.”  The memory of that made Zatanna chuckle.

“Yes he’s brilliant with science, but a florist he is not,” she laughed.  Dick cracked a smile.  Seeing her chance Zatanna poked him.  “So what’s this about short shorts?”

Dick groaned and pulled a pillow over his face.  “Oh come on Dick - you were thinking of a new look anyways right?”

“Look who’s talking Miss Open Blouse,” Dick snapped waspishly before clapping his hands to his mouth.

Zatanna smiled sweetly in turn.  “Yessir Mr. Skin-tight bodysuit sir.  Glad you ditched the cape, but how long do you think before a certain someone notices that perky little butt of yours and cracks a joke.  Or, maybe that’s the po - ”

Dick reached up to put a finger against her lips and Zatanna smiled knowingly.  “Efficiency of motion,” Dick said in his own defense.

“So are short shorts.”

As Dick made frustrated strangling gestures in the air, Zatanna raised a finger to her chin in thought.  “Well relatively - until they start riding up.  How did you avoid that as a kid?”

“I didn’t,” Dick admitted.

Zatanna still looked thoughtful though. “Anyways, I see that even when you were starting you were making the best of your ASSets.”

Dick could only gape in silent horror at the magician as she rose and waved goodbye with a smile like the cat that got the cream.

That night, Dick settled himself and thought back to Wally.  He thought of the lilies.  He thought of a certain afternoon he and Zee spilled their hearts out to each other on the anniversary of his parent’s deaths.

 

**_Jump City_ **

**_March 30, 2013_ **

**_20:54_ **

“You’re fast, but I doubt you'll enjoy moving at the speed of light!”

A laser hurtled Dick back into the store’s display case.  Dr.  Light smirked triumphantly - not noticing that his black body suit outfit with brilliant holographic highlights was now missing his bizarrely compass-like helmet.

Wally shoved it back down on Light’s head for him and pulled it down over the bigshot villain's eyes.  “Yeah Doc, let’s see how you like it!”

Dick recovered and brushed himself off in the suddenly empty room.  Then Wally was right by his side again, giving his friend a once over.  “Dude, you ok?”

“I can handle a display case. Where’s Light?”

“Chilling outside the police station minus his bedazzled one-piece,”  Wally held out the ridiculous looking hat.  “Souvenir~”  Then his expression hardened as Dick brushed dirt off his new costume.  “You just got out of the hospital Dick,” Wally pointed out flatly with no small amount of concern as he crossed his arms.  “Alfred would never let me over on Brownie night again if I let you get something broken your first night on patrol again.”

“No more brownies - the horror,” Dick drawled.  Unexpectedly Wally frowned instead of firing back with another quip.

“Ok.  Seriously.  I think we’re done for the night,” he decided as he gingerly prodded Nightwing’s arm.

“Wally, I’m _fine_.”

“You told Tula that when your leg was broken too.”

“ _I’m FINE._ ” Dick growled.

Wally threw his arms up. “I’ll tell the Bat on you.”

Dick humphed angrily and set out the door away from the argument.  “At least let me stretch my legs.  I am so tired of being cooped up.”

Wally nodded and followed, just as Dick expected he would.  Dick had no powers, but was dextrous and a master of finesse.  Wally had the powers, but relied on them and how they augmented his own strength when he bumbled as he was wont to do.  They were opposites in some ways, but found a way to fit together over the years.  Now they struggled across a rift as Dick outgrew his costume and seemingly his sense of humor as Wally spent more and more time with Artemis.  However, one thing that Dick still firmly shared with the speedster was the love of motion.

“Going up,” Wally smirked as Dick raised a grappling hook.  The dark haired boy looked over, but Wally’s telltale yellow blur was already edging over the lip of the building’s roof.  Then the hook caught and Dick flew up the side of the building.

Wally zipped back down and up again.  He grinned wildly at Dick as he slowed down enough to keep pace.  Then at the top, he tripped over the outcropping and wheeled over the edge to smack the roof face-first.  Dick cackled as he pulled himself up too and promptly fell in a laughing heap -  wheezing laughter as Wally gingerly touched his nose.  “Ay tink aym bweeding Tick fash.”

One rolled up tissue later Wally settled on the very edge he tripped on, head tilted forward to stop the bleeding.  Dick looked on over Jump City and tapped his comm as Wally nursed his nose .  “Come in Beta squad.”

 _\- “Beta squad reporting,”-_  M’gann’s chipper voice came back.

“Gamma?”

 _\- “Gamma squad,”-_  Kaldur reported.

“Delta?”

A yawn punctuated the transmission.   _\- “Delta he-a-a-” -_  Raquel yawned again. _\- “I’m all for the justice and kicking the baddie’s cans, but I’ve got a test in the morning.  Can I **please** go back and cram for my inevitable C now?” -_

 _\- “Aw Raquel, you’re great at science!  I’m sure you’ll be fine!” -_ M’gann’s bubbly optimism was as jarring as if she were yelling into the com.  Raquel moaned in response.

 _\- “Has anyone found anything to report on tonight?” -_  Kaldur asked.

“One light-based pun master ready for the clink,”  Dick answered.  The others came back in with all clears.  A frustratingly quiet evening given that the town had recently seen a jump in supervillain activity.  They really needed to assign Leaguer or some sort of standby in this city - it was starting to reach Metropolis/Gotham levels of super criminal activity.

_\- “I see.  Well I believe we can call this new squad arrangement exercise a success.” -_

“Not exactly a groundbreaking idea Kaldur,” Dick sighed.

 _\- “It is still a worthy venture if the Team continues to grow as the League does.  I look forward to seeing how you will lead the team Robin.” -_ Then he pointed out, _\- “In the mean time, I believe that we may turn in earlier than we would have otherwise.  Gamma out.” -_

Everyone else signed out and Wally rose, discarding the tissue and looking like he never had ended up on the wrong end of a scuffle with concrete.  Accelerated healing was a good perk for Wally to have.  “So what now?”

Dick did a double-take.  “You’re not going home with Artemis?”

Wally shrugged.  “She can handle herself fine.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Well…she and I thought it would be good to take a break from each other tonight,” Wally muttered as he rubbed the back of his head.

Dick raised a brow and folded his arms.  “Wally you’re a terrible liar.  I’d like to remind you I know where your snack stashes are and I’m not above extortion.”

Wally’s eyes narrowed.  “You wouldn’t.”

His friend smiled with falsely bright cheer and rubbed his palms together excitedly.  “Remember the super glue from last time?  I just got a new shipment.”

He watched the speedster’s eyes bulge. “IkindapromisedtheBatIwouldkeepyoufromdoingsomethingstupidagaintonight,”

Dick didn’t quite catch all of that, but picked out “the Bat” which made him scowl.  “I’m going to stretch,” he stated with a certain air of finality.

Wally hung back guiltily as Dick took off running.  “You know, most people don’t treat marathon runs over the side of twenty story buildings a “stretch” Boy Wonder!” he called out as an afterthought.  Then he chuckled as Dick flipped him the bird and lept down below to a nearby building.

Dick kept running, doing parkour up and down the odd bits of clutter left out on the top of buildings. Wally caught up, would run ahead, double back, and occasionally match Dick’s pace on another building across the street.  Instead of jumping like his friend though, he would simply zip down the side and back up the gap between buildings.  Running was his thing.  Flying in the sky was Robin’s.

Eventually the scowl on Dick’s face faded and gave away to exhilarated laughter as he and Wally started to do stunts and try to outdo each other.  Dick pit his wall jumps and cartwheels against Wally’s sheer defiance of gravity and full-bodied tornado-like spins.  Naturally Dick liked it best when the speedster was close enough to see the grin on his Wally’s face as he whooped and laughed - free to move as the wind.

Dick hobbled to a stop and collapsed on a rooftop at the edge of Jump City’s coast.  He rolled over, taking deep gulps of the cool evening air.  Wally was also breathing hard, but in much better shape as he stopped beside Dick.  With a shrug, Wally belly flopped to the ground, somehow twisting in midair to catch himself enough to not be winded before impact.  Dick rolled his eyes.  “Cheater.”

“How is using my super speed like that cheating?”

“You defy the laws of physics,” Dick more or less whined.

“Hello?  Speedster!” Wally laughed and shoved Dick who lolled lazily in response.

They lay like that a while, watching the starless evening sky turn a murky purple from the city lights.  Dick could hear the city’s nightlife winding down not too far from them and finally decided to break the silence.  “I was thinking of another handle.”

“Like what?” Wally chewed on one of his snack bars.  “What’s wrong with Robin?”

“What’s wrong with Boy Wonder?  Wally, I’m taller than _you_ now!”

Wally wordlessly shrugged so Dick continued “How about Bird of Prey?”

His friend gagged on his snack bar and sat up.  Then he slapped his hands to his cheeks and pulled a long face.  “Ohmygod.  Dick you so are not allowed to decide any more names.”

Dick raised his head in question.

“You and Kaldur literally called the Team - _the Team_.  At least the League sounds impressive enough.”

“It’s simple and to the point.”

“So were your short shorts.”

“DAMMIT! _Stop bringing them up!_ ” Dick pulled Wally into a headlock and gave the protesting redhead a noogie.

“Ghaahahaah - abuse!  Abuse!  Wait’ll I tell Alfred!”  Dick just snorted.

“So not Bird of Prey, what else?”

“Owlman?  You’ve got the whole brooding bird -”

“NO”

“But -”

“Already taken - remember the Owlman in Gotham last summer?”

“Oh yeah.”

Wally began throwing out random bird names and Dick rolled his eyes when the speedster began to bring up names like Dove, Hawk and even Hawkman on purpose. “Mockingbird.  Cuz you’re a bird and you like mocking me,” Wally said with a note of exaggerated despair.

“Isn’t that a hero in those Marvel comics - wai-ai-ai-ait.  Didn’t Lex Luthor use that once?”

“Oh yeah...he did didn’t he?”  After a moment’s silence, Wally sighed.  “I give up, why don’t you ask Batman for ideas?  He’s the one who got people afraid of a rodent with wings in the night!”

“Wings...in the night…wait!” Dick elbowed Wally.  “Didn’t Supes say that he used “Nightwing” as an alias out in space one time?  And it was based on the Bat!”

“Nightwing?”  Wally side-eyed Dick.  “Really?”

“Hey!  Not my idea remember?  If you want to complain about unoriginality, bring it up with the Big Blue Boy Scout _**Kid** Flash_!”

Wally scowled and waved it off.  “Nah, it’s such a dorky name it’s perfect for you.”

Dick pursed his lips, but then they curled into a wicked smile as he tickled Wally and tried to chase him down as the speedster whooped and arched away.  Then his wrist computer beeped and an alert popped up.  Dick’s smile melted as he read the alert and raised a hand to his mouth in thought.

Wally noticed and leaned in.  “What’s - ? Oh. OH.” It was April 1st on the East Coast.

Dick closed the alert and got to his feet with Wally only a beat behind.  Wally started reaching out to put a hand on Dick’s shoulder, then paused just short.  In that short pause, Dick stepped forward lost in thought.  When Dick turned around Wally give him a sunny smile - his arms casually folded behind his head.  “Want to visit them?”

Dick raised a brow.  “But tomorrow we have that mission - ”

“I know,” Wally interjected.  “I mean here and now.”

“Wally - it’s the middle of the night and I don’t - ”

Wally scoffed.  “I’ve got superspeed and you’re trained by the Bat.  We can get in.  It’s not like anyone would mind anyways.”  Wally gave him a soft smile and relaxed his shoulders in the hopes that Dick would do the same.  The former acrobat was as rigid as a statue and his expression just as stony.  “This is important too.”

“...you don’t mind?” Dick asked unusually timid.

“Dude,” Wally placed a hand on his shoulder.  “I’m your friend.  Of course I don’t mind.  Hold on, I’ll even carry you - just give me a jiffy.”

Wally was gone again, which was probably just as well.  Now that Wally’s hand was gone from his shoulder, Dick unclenched his fist, only to turn around and kick the wall.

~*~

“I’m going to fall off.”

“You wouldn’t - urk- if you would just - OOF - you are one bony Boy Wonder you know that?  It’d be a cinch if you’d just close your big fat mouth!”

“Look who’s talking _Kid Mouth_.  If you go at superspeed I’m going to have bruises from all your bony bits we’ll have to explain to your girlfriend in the morning,” Dick deadpanned.  He immediately regretted saying that.  He was on autopilot, trying very hard - very very very hard - not to let the fact that he was going to be riding Wally piggyback.

“I’ll heal,” Wally chuckled.  Dick’s eye twitched as he tried to banish all imagination from that exchange just then.  It was hard, but focusing on thinking of all the humiliating things Zatara might say once she found out about this helped.

“Ready?  Don’t forget to keep your mouth closed!”  Wally set off across the rooftop.

Dick was really trusting Wally here.  He had been adamant to just getting to the Zeta tube and beaming over, but Wally was technically right that this would be faster.  But they hadn’t done this for over a year and when Dick had been five inches shorter.  Over a year and five inches ago, Dick hadn’t been keeping secrets from Wally - well that many secrets at least.  Now the secret he held felt like a very real weight that might drag him into Wally and massive trouble.

Wally began picking up speed as they neared the edge of the rooftop and Dick closed his eyes.  He ducked his head into Wally’s neck.  He breathed in the scent of dust, sweat, and a hint of Artemis’s melon cucumber shampoo that Wally must have stolen and used.  Dick clenched tighter, trying to keep from thinking and then Wally asked, “Ready?”

Dick’s feeling’s roiled in his stomach as guilty thoughts of Artemis made him lean back.  “NO!”

“WHOAH!” Wally made an abrupt turn into a circuit of the rooftop and scrambled to recover his balance, “Dick?  You ok?  You not feeling well?  We’ve done this before!”

“I changed my mind Wally, I can do this after the mission!  Stop.  Stop!  Let me off...”

Wally was quiet.  Then somehow he hefted Dick higher up his back.

“Whoah!” Dick instinctively leaned closer into Wally as his balance shifted.

“I’m going!”

That was all the warning Dick had before Wally kicked into superspeed.  Dick’s view of the buildings and lights stretched and blurred before he remembered to squeeze his eyes shut.  Eyes shut, there was only the sense of Wally under him as the speedster ran for all he was worth.  At this speed, every sound faded away too.  However, he could feel Wally’s rapid breathes and burying his face in the speedster’s neck he swore he could feel Wally’s heartbeat.  Or maybe he was imagining things as his body fought inertia while adjusting to the superspeed.  Then suddenly the free sense of motion filled him as Wally reached top speed.  Laughter began to bubble up from Dick and he squeezed Wally tighter in the moment.  He could enjoy that much at least.

_**Gotham City** _

_**April 1, 2013** _

_**00:12 EDT** _

Wally slowed at the edges of the city and by the time they reached the cemetery Dick could finally make out more than blurs of shapes and colors.  Eventually Dick tapped Wally’s shoulder and the speedster stopped to let Dick off.  The dark-haired boy took a breather and eventually led his friend towards the Wayne Family’s private plots.  There Dick wandered to a smaller area set off to the side and stopped.  Wally followed a few steps behind and strained to read the markers.

“John Grayson” “Mary Loyd Grayson” “Karla Grayson” “John Richard Grayson”

Dick stared in silence and crouched down to touch each plaque in turn.  To think that seven years had passed already… after a few minutes of contemplation, Dick rose and then immediately felt something was off.  Then it hit him, “Oh cripes - I forgot -”

A handful of flowers were shoved under Dick’s nose.  Dick blinked in surprise, breathing in the scent of the fresh lilies and he cupped one of the moon-bright white blossom.  “These?” Wally offered.

“Wally...how did you?...”

Wally didn’t quite meet Dick’s eyes.  “Well, a little bird once told me that a Robin like lilies best,” he said casually.  Wally’s gaze flicked back and he froze at the expression on Dick’s face.  The other boy gently took the flowers from Wally’s grasp, then pulled the redhead into a hug.

“...thank you Wally…”

The hug ended as abruptly as it begun and Wally was left blinking in surprise as Dick lay the lilies out with great gravity upon the graves.  Then he heard a whispering and stepped back as Dick spoke to the graves in Romani, leaving his friend alone with his thoughts, memories, and very raw feelings.

When Dick finished he rose and then looked around for Wally finding his friend a fair distance from the graves.

Wally cleared his throat.  “You uh,...done?”

Dick nodded.  “Yeah...thanks Wally.”

The redhead nodded as Dick walked by.  Then Wally cleared his throat again making Dick pause and turn back.

Wally blinked nervously and licked his lips.  “Hey Dick...uh… _me kemav tu_.”

Dick froze up and the look in his eye seemed to set Wally off.  “Uhmm...I don’t know how to say “You are loved” or “You’re family to me bro” in Romani so I...tried to learn...uhmm…”

Wally fumbled a bit, but Dick had to remember to breath after those three words stole the air from his lungs.  Out of all the words Wally had to pick, why did he have to try those?  “Ah...dude you know…”  Wally met his eyes and Dick closed his.  He didn’t know whether he should feign anger or laughter.

Finally, Dick reached out and tweaked Wally’s nose.  “You want me huh?  Would you like a large order of fries with that?”

Wally turned crimson.  “Oh God, is that what I said? I am so...I am never using Google again.”  He tugged his hair and spun in a frustrated circle.

Genuine laughter escaped from Dick unbidden as finally he hunched down to his knees, tears leaking from his eyes.  Wally stared.  “Dude?”

He reached down and Dick waved Wally’s hand away.  It was all too much - how could he still laugh as his insides felt like they were going to churn into so many pieces of his heart?  Wally touching him would undo him and Dick could barely handle the tears whether it was from frustrated anger, bitter grief, or the joy that Wally was here to share this moment with him.

“Dick?  I’m sorry - I, can I - jeeze, can I apologize?”  Wally’s hand inched close again and Dick shot up and forced himself to hug Wally.

Those words...his cousin John once had to explain that they were an attempt to capture the kind of emotion that went into the hugs and closeness the family shared.

_“John isn’t it good to have a word for that? “Love?””_

_“...yes and no Rich.  The world isn’t that simple is it?”_

_Seven year old Dick frowned at his cousin.  “You’re being “adult” again aren’t you?”_

_John laughed and patted Dick’s head.  “Ok, well here it is.  We don’t say it because we think it means less the more you say it.”_

_“Huh?”_

_“The girl says she “loves” me, and maybe she does.  But she can love her family too right?  What about her friends?  Maybe she has a dog she loves too.”_

_“Is it bad to care about so many things?”_

_“Goodness no little Robin.  But why say it when you can feel it?  When you already know it?  Do you understand?”_

_“...maybe…”_

It was a word that haunted Dick when Bruce and Alfred were teaching him English.  Yes it was useful to have the word, to say he loved the family he lost.  But Alfred and Bruce found out that some Romani indeed have a word for it, and others were of a mind with his family as John had explained it.  Bruce tried comparing it to Japanese, but that went over Dick’s head at the time.  Now?  Dick wasn’t sure how to sort out his thoughts on what Wally tried to express to him.

“Sure, but thanks for the effort Wally.”  Wally tried patting Dick on the back even as his friend dashed the tears from his eyes.  “Let’s go home.”

“What about your uncle?”  Wally asked as Dick was clambering over the wall.

“I’ll visit him once we’re back,” Dick lied.  “Go back home and sleep Wally.”

The speedster nodded and started to jog off while Dick turned to go.  “Hey Dick…” he found himself in one more hug from Wally, “I really mean it!  I’m glad you’re here!”  Then Wally was gone.

Dick stood there wordlessly, the memory of Wally’s warmth made his skin tingle.  He turned and made a beeline for the hospice where his uncle was interned.  This time Wally didn’t come back and Dick tried to banish the image of Artemis patiently waiting for Wally to come home.  It wasn’t fair to any of them to be hung up on Wally like this - regardless of what Wally said.

Dick survived his heart breaking once, he could survive it again.

**_Central City_ **

**_June 25, 2015_ **

**_16:28 CDT_ **

“Hey”  Dick said softly as he entered the room.  Artemis looked up and waved wearily.

“Heya Dick.”

Dick shuffled close, his steps unsure.  “How is he?”

“Just...tired…” the blond sighed as she gave into anxiety and ran a gentle finger over the unbandaged bit of Wally’s forehead.  The speedster was a mess of gauze bandages and an IV dripped steadily from the other side of the bed.  It was a testament to Wally’s will to live, but even speedster healing factors had their limit.  Wally was alive - but just barely given the way Dr. Zoom had attacked and just about tortured their smarmy redhead.

Dick hesitated, feeling like an intruder as he tried to quash the spike of jealousy.  He struggled all the more seeing Wally’s eyes flicker open and go straight to Artemis.  “Hey beautiful…”

“Shh…” Artemis put a finger towards his lips, just short of touching them.  “If ya got time to compliment me, you have time to rest up and not make me worry Baywatch.”

“Pet names babe…” Wally crooned.  It was all very cute.  Dick felt that surge of longing wondering what it would be like to be on the end of that instead of Artemis.  He tried to squash that thought too.  Tried.

That drew Wally’s attention.  “Hi Dicky-boo.”

“Hi...Wally.”  Dick cast his gaze down to his feet as his heart burned like blazing coal.  “You look...like crap…”

Wally chuckled and even Artemis smiled a hair at Dick’s bluntness.  “Man, you’re supposed to be making me feel better not worse.”

“At least you finished finals before getting landed in here,” Dick tried to keep his voice light.  “I can’t imagine you any worse than - oh dammit.”

“Macabre…” Artemis began.

“But you still have a sense of humor somewhere...I think…” Wally finished.  He tried to rise and neither Artemis nor Dick moved to help him so he flopped back the scant half inch he rose.  “Don’t mind me...just a...heh...handsome redhead with a full body cast...can’t move or anything.”

“Sort of the point isn’t it?” Dick drawled.  Artemis nodded to him and ignored Wally’s bout of self-pity on the bed.

Instead she spoke to Dick.  “So...what brings big, blue, and totally-not-a-Batman-knock-off away from training the newest Boy Wonder?”

Dick smirked.  “I thought the Team’s been missing something lately.  Must be that charming sense of humor you bring.”

Artemis gave him an overly sweet smile.  “I’m one of a kind,” she reminded him.

Dick nodded and braced himself.  He took a deep shuddering breath.  “I wanted to check...if it’s true...”  He glanced up and saw Artemis’s unusually sympathetic look and Wally’s downcast gaze.  So it was.

Wally’s hand found Artemis’s.  “I’m sorry Dick.  I - I think it's really best if we...take a break from the Team.  It just hasn’t been the same since Kaldur...left.”

“...I see…”  In his mind Dick’s thoughts went in circles - panicked and lonely.  One thought emerged to the front of his mind - wondering, “...am I doing something wrong?...” he couldn’t help saying aloud - his voice small.

“No! No, not at all -” “Dick this isn’t your fault…”

Artemis looked more than a bit unhappy with this, but Dick immediately understood when he saw Wally’s eye go to her with a hint of fear and a great deal of despair in his eyes.  “I can’t let Artemis suffer because of _my_ hero things…” Wally tried to explain what didn't need to be said to his friend.  “I think it’s better if we lay low for a while - take a break and put our civilian lives together.”

“It’s a temp thing Dick,” Artemis tried to assure him.  It didn’t help that her voice wavered though or the way she looked away from a distraught Wally as she said it.

Dick tried to compose himself - trying to wall off the sense of him that wanted to go to the side of his best friend and beg him not to leave Dick alone.  Connor was their stalwart friend, M’gann generous as ever and Raquel still a joy to work with as ever and as witty as either Wally or himself.  Babs and Zatanna were his faithful friends and some of his closest companions - but they weren’t Artemis and Wally.  It was the two of them who caught him when Batman told them Jason had died.  It was Artemis who who stared Death in the face of the Reds with him.  It was Wally who was Dick’s last link to the first four proteges who began the Team.

“I understand,” he said with soft truth.  He didn’t like it one bit, but he could at least understand.

Wally sent him a look of gratitude that nearly made Dick’s knees buckle.  “Thanks man, you’re the best.”

“If you need anything you know who to get in touch with.”  The two nodded to him.  Dick turned to go, then remembered.  He fumbled with his package.  “I, uh...I brought you flowers…”  He set the bouquet in a little glass vase and set out without a word.

Artemis went over and picked it up curiously.  “I always took Dick as a roses sort of dude.”

Wally smiled as she brought the flowers over for him to admire.  “Some Robins prefer lilies.”

**_Gotham City_ **

**_April 1st, 2006_ **

**_19:40 EDT_ **

_Nine year old Richard Grayson watched his mother kiss his father joyfully and do a little twirl.  “Your father is such a wonderful man,” Mary Grayson sighed to herself dreamily as she waved off Richard’s dad._

_Richard scowled.  “They’re just flowers,” he said with the personal disdain of a boy raised to think flowers beneath him.  “Boring.  Dad should buy you a ring.”_

_Mary laughed and shook her head as she arranged the vividly red and speckled alstroemerias.  “I think the flowers are better.”_

_“Why?” Richard asked genuinely curious._

_His mother looked thoughtful.  “There’s something special about flowers - they don’t last but that means you value all the time you have with them.  I don’t even know which jewels I have remember?”_

_“You give them all to Aunt Karla.”_

_Mary ruffled her son’s hair.  “She looks pretty in them, don’t you think?  I stick them in a box and forget they’re there.”_

_Richard grunted noncommittally and looked about to go._

_“Richard dear,”  Mary pulled her son close and put the flowers in his hands.  “Lilies symbolize friendship and devotion Little Bird - they were the flowers your father first gave me.  I hope you find someone who will be a friend all your life and live with them with all your heart,” she kissed the top of Dick’s head and walked out of the wagon.  The young Richard looked at the flowers._

_“Friendship and devotion?..” he sighed.  “They’re just flowers…” He put them back in the vase because his mother liked them at least and they were a gift from his father.  Then he heard Haly’s voice boom in the distance to begin their Gotham performance and followed his mother out the door._

 

**Author's Note:**

> My headcanon of Young Justice is heavily influenced by both The Batman (2004-2008) series and the Teen Titans cartoon. Cluemaster and Dr. Light were drawn on from each respectively. This fic more or less falls within the bounds of the Summonings storyline I am writing.
> 
> Regarding Wally's use of Romani - I am not a Romani speaker and have no claim to understanding it regardless of how many other languages I have studied. I drew on the discussion from this. http://tribes.tribe.net/amensamroma/thread/0eb621c1-1e29-49e3-b26c-7bb1c3f78159  
> Read at your own risk - though I'd love to discuss writing with foreign languages with anybody.
> 
> Dick and Wally are using your typical run-of-the-mill lilies (there are simply too many “common” varieties for me to cage your imagination) throughout the fic, but I’m thinking John couldn’t resist giving his wife alstromerias cuz I basically made her a flower fan. Different types of lilies have different meanings, but the meaning I have Mary cite specifically refers to alstromeria (aka Peruvian lilies or lilies of the Incas). Little Richard remembered generally the type of flower and extrapolated from there. Hopefully that’s interesting to know - it was bugging me how to make this work. When I first had the idea for this fic it was just about Wally and Dick running around a city like hooligans. Then I looked at flowers for hospital visits, set the fic down and then eventually picked it up again.


End file.
